The Art of Healing
by Whimsycal
Summary: Maybe Sasuke wasn't as bad as I had thought. And not as scary, either. Maybe he was actually nice. SasuHina AU School, under major editing
1. Locked In

**The Art of Healing**

by Whimsycal  
-

**Prologue**

Up until that year, I had been stuck in a void hole. I was moving, but I was not going anywhere. I was trying my hardest to be someone, but I was the invisible girl no one knew. I thought I was in love with someone, and it ended up not being what I thought it was.

Then I met him, and he became my best friend. And before we could ever turn back, he became something more.

It started the summer before senior year. He was seventeen, and I was sixteen, and even though I've known him for almost my whole life, I've never really tried to get to know him until then.

...

* * *

**Chapter 1: Locked In**

The clock on the wall was ticking. We watched the second hand intently, not caring about the random babbling of our 7th period teacher. He was distractedly looking at the clock as well, telling us the summer plans he had with his family.

And suddenly it came.

"DING, DING, DING."

The bells indicating the end of school, the beginning of summer, were soon drowned out by the cheers of everyone in class. Sensei grinned at us, "I'll see you all next year. Have a great summer!". People trickled out of the classroom, chatting with friends and packing up all their supplies. The room quickly emptied of people eager to start their summer vacation.

After zipping up my backpack, I gave a quick glance around the room, thinking how even though I was looking forward to the next two months, I was somehow going to miss the daily order of school. It gave me something to do, at least.

And I didn't have to stay at home.

"Hinata!" I heard someone next to me say. Turning, I saw Tenten, one of my schoolmates who occasionally talked to me sometimes, slap her hands on the desk in front of me.

"H-hi" I said, smiling at her. Tenten was one of the nicest people I knew, and she was always outgoing, so sometimes I wondered why she even talked to me, the girl everyone thought was gloomy and quiet.

She grinned back at me, and said excitedly, "Hinata, wanna go to a pool party next week?"

Pool party? I blushed, as I thought about what constituted a pool party. I would have to wear a swimsuit, which my self-consciousness did not like. "Ano... I'll.. think about it?" I glanced down at my desk, staring at my hands.

"Oh, come on!" She pouted, "Do you have anything better to do?"

I had to admit she had a point. And I was kind of happy she even thought of inviting me. I rarely got invitations to any kind of party. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, I thought to myself.

"O-okay. I'll go. Thank you for asking m-me."

Tenten smiled, "Yay! Okay, it's next Monday at the Konoha pool. Around noon. Be there."

I stored this information in my memory, and said, "G-got it!"

She looked at me closely. "Aren't you hot?"

I didn't feel comfortable without a baggy sweater. Even though I had the school uniform on underneath, I liked being able to hide in the bulkiness of my sweater.

"I'm f-fine!" I was used to it by now, anyways.

"Whatever you say. One day I'm going to dress you in normal clothes. One day soon. Oh, I forgot to mention. Naruto will be going too." Tenten said, with a laugh. "Oh, I'm going to be late to my part-time job. See you next week!"

Before I could say bye, she gave me a thumbs up, and left the classroom, running after some of her friends who were leaving.

Wait. Did I just hear her say that Naruto was going? I gulped. I couldn't possibly go now! My stuttering always got fifty times worse whenever I was near Naruto. And geez, it was going to be a pool party, so I had to wear a swimming suit.

What was I going to do? I was definitely not confident enough of my body to wear a swimming suit.

Not that he would even notice me anyways.

But I had already told Tenten I would go.

I groaned, and sunk back down in my seat, leaning forward on the desk and hiding my face behind my hands for a while. By now I was probably the only one left in the classroom. The only one who wasn't looking so forward to summer vacation.

There was someone else still in the room, I realized. His hood was pulled over his head, and from the looks of it, he was asleep. He probably didn't even realize that school was over, and summer was here.

I didn't want him to be left alone in the classroom while everyone was already gone, so I walked over to his desk, and tapped him softly on his shoulder.

"U-um… s-school is over…" No response. I tapped him again. "H-hello?"

His face had been buried between his arms on his desk, but then he turned his head towards me. I squeaked with surprise.

"S-sasuke-kun?" I can't say I really know him that well, because I don't. We've been in the same classes together since as long as I could remember, but since he never spoke to me, I never tried to start conversations with him either.

"What?" He growled at me. If looks could kill, I would be dead already. I wasn't sure why he was being so grouchy, so I just stared at the ground, and whispered, "S-school is over…"

I could feel him staring at me with his dark, dark eyes for a moment as I felt my face heat up. Then, as if he saw me as a nuisance, he turned back to the desk. I was left standing there stupidly, looking as his hooded head.

After a few minutes of silence, I heard him breathing deeply. He... he fell asleep again? I wasn't sure what to think, or do.

I glared at his back, and grabbed my backpack to leave. Fine, whatever. He could stay as long as he wanted to. It wouldn't be my fault if he ended up being stuck in school the whole summer.

I really did not like Sasuke Uchiha, I couldn't help but think, as I closed the door behind me quietly.

But something made me stop. What if he really got stuck in school the whole summer? I guess I should wait for him, and besides, I didn't have anything else to do. And I hated going home.

So I went back inside, and sat at the desk next to his, leaning my head against my arm. That guy better wake up soon. I sure did not want to be locked in school.

...

* * *

Why was my neck hurting? I slowly opened my eyes, only to see that outside the window the sky was already beginning to darken.

Oh no. I had accidentally fallen asleep while waiting for Sasuke to wake up.

Sitting up quickly, I saw that Sasuke-kun wasn't in the classroom anymore. My heartbeat quickened, and I stood up.

Where did he go? Did he just abandon me?

I ran out of the classroom. The hallways were all dark. I never knew how scary a school could be when everyone was gone. My footsteps echoed up and down the hallways as I searched for a way out with frenzy.

"S-sasuke-kun?" I called softly. He had probably already left a long time ago. Was I going to die here? Sinking down onto my knees, I felt my eyes fill with tears.

This was so scary. The hallways were nearly black, save for some light that came in from the few windows as the sun shined its last rays over the land.

Tears still running down my cheeks, I stood up, and using the walls as support, tried to find the door that would bring me outside. Please, please don't be locked.

A hand grabbed my shoulder out of nowhere. So I did the only things I could think of doing. I screamed and punched the unknown menace.

"Omph! Hey, it's me!"

Ahh… that voice sounded a little bit familiar.

"S-sasuke-kun? W-w-w-what are you doing here?" Didn't he already leave? Then I realized what I did. I punched him. I punched him! I grimaced.

"S-s-sorry! I didn't know it was y-you!"

He held something over me, probably to punch me back. I closed my eyes, preparing for the hit. I wasn't going to die from being locked in a school for two months. I was going to die in the hands of scary Sasuke-kun. I couldn't decide which was worse.

"Hey, take it."

I opened my eyes in surprise, as he placed something cold in my hands. A bottle of water. Oh. But why? I guess I was a little thirsty though, so I took it and thanked him.

He didn't say anything else as I pried open the cap and drank some of the water. Talk about awkward.

Suddenly I remembered our situation. "A-are we locked in?"

He smirked. "No."

"Oh…" Oh, good. So… where's the exit? He didn't tell me where the unlocked door was, but started walking. I followed him nervously. It was even darker now. I could dimly see his figure walking slightly ahead of me, but when I looked down I couldn't see my feet.

He was scary, but staying alone in this dark school was even scarier. I was glad he was here, I had to admit to myself.

We approached the main doors, and he opened it with ease, letting us out into the pleasant night air.

"B-but…how? That wasn't l-locked?" I could only gape in surprise.

"No. The janitors will be coming to clean later, like they do everyday."

Oh, so that was it. He was pretty smart. Or I was just kind of dumb. I blushed.

Giving him a weak smile, I said. "T-thanks for the water, and h-helping me out."

"Hn.", was the reply I got. Somehow I thought that even though he was sparse with words, he was saying 'no problem'.

"W-well… I should get going…." I gave him a full smile this time, and told him, "See you n-next year!"

I turned and started walking, but I heard his footsteps behind me, so I looked back with quizzical eyes.

He stuck his hands in his pockets, and said, "It's dark. I'll walk you home."

Um….my house wasn't that far away. It only took ten minutes for me to walk home, usually. "I-it's fine, I can w-walk home myself. It's really c-close."

Sasuke just shrugged, and turned away. As he walked in the opposite direction, I thought I heard him mutter, "It's not like I have anything else to do."

Maybe Sasuke wasn't as bad as I had thought. And not as scary, either. Maybe he was actually nice.

...

* * *

The mansion was as empty as always when I arrived home. Father was probably still at work, Hanabi was probably out with her friends, and Neji was probably locked in his room playing video games.

I sighed as I made my way up those winding stairs, turning on all the lights I passed. Turning on the lights made things seem a little less lonely, even though I knew I was wasting electricity.

After dropping my backpack at the foot of my bed, I plopped down and rested my head on my pillow, looking around my room.

It was pretty big, but that just made it seem even emptier. There was my bed, some old pictures on the walls, a desk, some bookshelves, and some other random furniture here and there.

Reaching into a drawer, I grabbed my mp3 player and walked out to my room's balcony. It was my favorite spot in the whole house, because I could sit down next to the handrails and look up at the sky.

It was my special place, and mine alone. No one could bother me here, not even my father. When I went onto my balcony I closed the drapes so if someone went into my room they couldn't see me sitting there.

I watched cars zoom by our street, and a stray cat climb stealthily up a neighbor's fence, and listened to quiet classical music humming in my ears.

But it still felt like something was missing.

From under the streetlights I saw the shadow of someone walking down the street, away from my house. I vaguely wondered who that could be. It crossed my mind that maybe, just maybe, it was Sasuke. The back of his head looked like Sasuke's head, anyways. Like, it was all spiked up and stuff.

Probably just my imagination. I think I spent way too much time with him today.

Suddenly I didn't feel like sitting there anymore.

I went down the hall to Neji's room and knocked on his door.

"N-neji-nii? Are you hungry? I was going to m-make some dinner."

I heard the soft click of his lock, and he slowly opened the door. Neji was my cousin, but ever since his parents died he had been living with us. I considered him my brother. I thought I was antisocial, but Neji was less sociable than me.

"Yeah. Thanks."

I nodded, and turned around, hearing him quietly closing his door behind me.

Sighing, I wondered to myself what I could make for dinner today, and whether or not father and Hanabi would make it home to eat it with us, like a family should.

I doubted it.

...

A/N: July 13, 2010

Ahh. It's been more than a year since I started this fic. I've just decided to edit and update it a little bit, and hopefully it will be better than it was before. I've changed some facts. Hinata's character has changed in some ways, and I have a new direction for the fic, I think. I appreciate the people who reviewed and favorited this story, even after I stopped writing for so long. :)


	2. The Tree

**Chapter 2: The Tree  
-**

It was only two days into summer vacation, but already I was feeling restless. Without school to go to, I had nothing else to do. Tenten's pool party was going to be tomorrow, but I had the whole day ahead of me today, and I wasn't sure how I was going to be spending it.

So far, I've done nothing. I sat at my secret place, and listened to music, and I practiced piano a little bit. But I haven't even left the house yet, except to retrieve the mail.

I've rarely seen my little sister, my father, or Neji-nii at all. Hanabi, unlike me, handled the loneliness of the house by going out and partying all the time, or hanging out with her friends. My father buried himself in work, coming home late every night just to crawl out of bed early in the morning to go back to work. I could hear my cousin's fingers furiously tapping his fingers on his laptop late into the night.

Sitting on my bed with my headphones on, I glanced at my watch. It was almost 10:30 am. The day was still young. I had plenty of time to do something. But do what? I groaned and fell back on my bed again.

I wanted to get out of the house. I flipped open my cellphone, but after scrolling down my contacts list and not seeing anyone I could call, as most of the phone numbers were accumulated over group projects and the like, I set my phone back down.

Maybe I would make a trip to the grocery store. Our refrigerator did need stocking up.

I finally decided on just walking there, to take in some fresh air, which I desperately needed from being coped up in the house for so long. I took my mp3 out from my sweater, and put on my headphones.

Listening to Chopin, walking with no sure destination in mind on a nice sunny day cheered me up. I was alone, but I seemed not to mind as much as usual.

I arrived at a small park that I've passed hundreds of times but never stopped at. Glancing around, I wondered why I've never stopped here.

It was not an extravagant park, but I decided that I liked it nonetheless. There was a small, part wood, part plastic playground situated in a sandbox in the middle of a field of green, green grass. A few old trees were scattered about, their shadows making ideal resting areas for people. People like me.

I sat down on the grass, and leaned my back against a tree, observing the park. Groceries could wait.

Not a lot of people were there. Just one kid, probably not older than four, and his grandparents. Looking at them, I felt somewhat touched. The kid was sitting on the top of a little slide, and his grandpa was coaxing him to slide down.

The kid had a scared look on his face, but at the persuasion of one of the people he trusted most, he let go of the handle at the top of the slide, and slid into his grandfather's open arms.

At his accomplishment, the kid grinned broadly, and proudly told his grandmother, who smiled and gave him a pat on the head.

Looking at them, I couldn't help but wish that I could be that little kid. With a loving family, together working out the hardships, supporting each other.

It was times like now that made me wish I carried a camera around with me. Something like that should last forever. I bet if the kid saw the picture in 20 years, he would treasure it more than anything.

Generic photos of smiling families with their faces smiling at the camera always told me nothing. A photo of a relaxed, normal everyday situation told me so much more.

I sighed, and stared wistfully at the now empty playground. The grandfather, after lifting the kid up to his shoulders, had already started walking away from the park, the grandmother at his side.

I closed my eyes, and leaned my head back, slightly tapping my foot to the rhythm in my ears. "_I will never let you fall… I'll stand up with you forever…I'll be there for you through it all, even if saving you sends me to heaven",_the lead singer for the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus sang gently in my ear.

I pictured Naruto singing it to me, and felt my face heat up. This song always gave me the shivers. Even though classical was by favorite type of music, I liked to listen to other types of music too.

So I was sitting there, tapping my foot to the voice in my ear, when a leaf fell on my nose. I opened my eyes in surprise, only to see someone sitting on a branch high above where I was sitting.

I screamed, and jumped up in surprise.

"Hinata?", the person said.

I stared and realized that it was Sasuke-kun sitting there on the branch. Why didn't I notice him there? The leaves on the tree were blocking him when I was walking to the tree, I guess, making it look like the tree was unoccupied.

"S-sasuke-kun?" I stammered, pulling out my earphones hurriedly. I admit, I was still slightly scared of him, even though he was all nice to me while we were stuck at school a few days ago.

But that was a few days ago, and now, I wasn't so sure how he would react to seeing me.

He was perched on a thick branch, one leg on the branch and one leg dangling off, his head casually resting against the trunk. Unlike the school uniform I always saw him wearing, he was wearing a black t-shirt and some tan mid-length shorts.

It was kind of new to me, this "new" Sasuke, because he was dressed like a little kid, as opposed to the stiff tie and black slacks as required for school. I couldn't help but finally see why so many girls yearned for him.

He looked at me, and just smirked.

"W-what are you doing up there?" I asked him worriedly, "You m-might f-fall down!" He didn't make an effort to move, and just continued grinning at me from his high camp-out.

"I'm not going to fall. I've done this before, you know."

I noticed the object tucked under his arm, and suddenly I was curious. "I-is that a sketchbook?"

The smirk on his face disappeared, and he looked at it as if he just remembered that he had it. "I guess so."

I have always loved looking at art, so I asked him if I could see it.

Getting no answer from him, I eagerly tried to make my way up the tree, placing my feet in little nooks and holding tightly on to branches. It was kind of scary, actually. I stopped what I was doing, and wrapped my arms around the trunk, my body shaking uncontrollably. He gazed down on me with an unreadable expression on his face. "Stay there. I'm coming down."

Geez, he could have just said so earlier, before I got into this predicament.

With ease, he placed his feet on the next lowest branch, crouched down, and, holding onto that same branch, swung down, landing painlessly on the soft grass.

I was jealous. Why did he make it look so easy? I wiggled my way down slowly, even though I wasn't that far off from the ground. Having Sasuke-kun on the ground made me feel a less scared.

I was ashamed of myself for not being able to climb all the way to the top. When my two feet were on solid ground, I kneeled down, hugging my shaking knees, burying my face in my arms.

I felt him crouch down next to me quietly.

"I-it didn't look that h-high." I knew I was trying to make an excuse for myself.

Peeking out from my arms, I saw Sasuke shove his sketchbook in front of my face awkwardly, turned to a page.

My breath caught at what I saw. He had depicted perfectly the little boy and his grandparents, on paper. It wasn't that detailed yet, he was probably still working on it, but I could the feel all the raw emotions coursing through the paper, in the pencil lead scrawled.

He had been able to catch the moment. The boy, his proud face, his proud grandparents. The movement on the paper seemed so beautiful, so real, so raw. My eyes even felt a little teary.

Sasuke was looking at me, as if a little embarrassed and unsure about what I thought about it. He looked like he regretted showing me, until I said what I thought about his picture.

"It's….b-beautiful….", I told the artist breathlessly, and became even more breathless when I saw the resulting shy smile that lit up on his face.

I realized that I have never seen Sasuke smile before, but I couldn't help but wish he would smile more.

"Thanks.", he responded, still with that genuine smile on his face.

I moved my gaze back to the sketch, carefully examining every line, every mark, with fascination. "W-where did you learn to draw? I n-never knew you were such a g-great artist!"

The smile on his face disappeared. I saw a flash of pain in his eyes, and then anger, and then frustration, and then… nothing. He didn't bother to answer my question, instead standing up and turning away.

I couldn't help but think I did something wrong, even though I couldn't imagine what. I stood up and followed him. "W-wait! I'm s-sorry!"

He stopped walking, and said, "Don't be sorry. It's not your fault." He paused, and in a slightly unsteady voice, answered my question. "My mother taught me."

Without looking back, Sasuke muttered goodbye, and took large and quick steps away from me. I stood there, unsure of what to think.

...

* * *

When I got home, I noticed an extra pair of shoes on the floor. As I walked up the stairs, I heard Tenten's voice projecting from Neji's room, so I knocked on his bedroom door.

He opened the door, and I could see Tenten lying on Neji's bed, with her legs propped up on the wall. She was chatting animatedly about her experiences back in China, or something, but when she saw me, she sat up and said, "Hi Hinata!"

It was a well known fact that Tenten had a big crush on Neji-nii. Some people at school found that to be quite strange, since Neji-nii was so antisocial and geek/nerd, and Tenten was so outgoing and made friends easily, but I thought they were pretty cute together.

I said, "Hi T-tenten!" I started to close the door to leave the two alone, but Tenten decided to follow me to my room.

"Neji told me you went out when I told him I wanted to say hi to you!"

"I went to the p-park. I was getting bored of b-being at home". I blushed, and Tenten's eyes widened.

"Whoa! You're all red. What happened?"

Sometimes I hated how easy I was to read, but I told her who I saw there.

Her eyes lighted up. "Ohhh, he's hot. What happened? You have to tell me what happened! Details!"

I told her that we just bumped into each other at the park, and that I never knew that Sasuke was an artist, and how I thought he was hard to understand.

"I never knew Sasuke was an artist. He has always been aloof though. I mean, after what happened to his family, and all." She said, with her arms crossed thoughtfully.

Usually, I didn't like to involve myself in other people's lives, but I wanted to know what happened to Sasuke-kun, so I asked, "What h-happened?"

She lay down on my bed, and, resting her head on an arm, told me, "I think a few years ago, when he was like, still in elementary school, his parents were killed by his crazy brother, or something. And ever since then, he's been living by himself."

I let this new information sink down. Suddenly I understood why Sasuke-kun acted the way he did. I brought up his mother, and surely he was still in pain from what happened. I mean, something like that would not be forgotten so easily.

My chest kind of started aching for him. Maybe Tenten felt my sadness, because she just patted my shoulder and presumably went back to talk to Neji-nii.

Long after Tenten left our house, and I made enough dinner for the whole family, but ate by myself once again, I sat on my bed silently, staring out of my window.

My mother died when I was in elementary school, too. She wasn't killed by my little sister, or anything, but died because of an illness she had been fighting since as long as I could remember.

But I knew the feeling of losing a loved one. I knew the tear in your heart that could never really heal. How life went on, and you just wanted to scream, "Why aren't you crying?" to some random stranger.

If I thought it was hard, Sasuke-kun probably thought it was a billion times harder.

And suddenly, the tears came. I went to my secret place on the balcony, and staring at the sky and picturing the beautiful sketch that he drew.

How did I ever think that Sasuke-kun was cold and unfeeling? I realized at that moment that Sasuke-kun probably had more profound feelings than anyone else.

...

* * *

A/N:

This chapter was longer before, but I thought it was too long and there were two different settings that didn't really fit together. So I split it up to two chapters. Some changes have been made. Hope you guys enjoy!


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